Everyone has a secret they’ll take to the grave. Some have more than one or even two or three.
Sometimes, they are secrets about secrets. And then there are times when everyone knows the secret and the secret becomes the fact that no one knows everyone knows.
Welcome to the world of Elizabeth Strout.
I love Elizabeth Strout and I don’t know why I haven’t read more by her and even more so, I don’t understand my inability to adequately articluate just what it is about her style that I appreciate so much.
With “The Things We Never Say,” I even made a concerted effort to really pinpoint just what it is, because her writing feels very gentle and … simple … to a large degree, but it’s not. She’s incredibly talented in being able to put the reader into the scene without any overwrought descriptions. Sometimes it’s just talking about how a character walks into a building or heats up their dinner.
She’s just really, really good.
So if someone asks if they should read “The Things We Never Say” my answer will be “Of course you should.”
Strout’s latest is an exploration of all sorts of relationships — friends, neighbors, coworkers, souses, children and strangers — and the things we say and don’t say to accommodate other people’s wellbeing. Our protagonist, Artie, unbeknownst to him, is one of the best when it comes to being an unspoken empath. He keeps his emotional struggles close to his vest and it’s only after an accidental near death encounter that he comes to realize he could be missing out on deeper relationships.
Still, there are things he’ll never say. Things that could hurt. Even if the person deserves the pain. And that stuck with me. The things we as humans revisit in our heads over and over, but never articulate. And the way we justify it to ourselves. Strout’s narrative of this one man with a rich, dense, internal monologue is one for the ages. Sweet, sweet, kinda messed up Artie. I need to debrief with someone over which relationship with his people loved the most. I think I’ll put my marker on his father-son relationship. Endearing and kind and everything you hope for with your kids.
One minor trigger warning — if you are reading to escape politics these next few weeks, hold off — election talk occasionally figures prominently. This too shall pass, right?
